March, 27 th 2013

U. S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20590

To Whom it May C oncern
,

Application for Approval of Resolution 787 by International Air Transport Association
Docket No. OST

- 2013

- 0048

- 0001

Qatar Airways is a premium full service airline and our product is rated of highest quality across the industry.

As a company , which offer s a premium product we welcom e and support the Resolution 787 New Distribution Capability (NDC) by IATA. This new distribution standard will remove the current constraints in the legacy distribution environment, which hinders Qatar Airways in actively promoting our product features to the customers. With the current distribution standard in place we are forced to limit our product features to scheduled flight times and price only. Consequentially the products of all airlines appear as a com modity to the consumer reduc ing

our value proposition independent of additional services and feature s we offer.

In addition to communicating our value proposition we see a substantial benefit of NDC in the fact that it supports an interactive and flexible shopping experience. This will enable us to dynamically package our offer and p ut the buyer in control over what best fits their needs.

We therefore strongly support the Resolution 787 by IATA for the following reasons:

NDC will enable the distribut ion of distinct pro duct features and thus allows a clear
communication of the value proposition to the consumer

. NDC will result in more transparency for the consumer about what product they are purchasing . Due the interactive design NDC will support the capability for the consumer to compare quickly between alternative offers.

Availabili ty of additional information about product features will inevitably result in better services by the airlines.
NDC will enable the airlines to market its brand pro

- actively and in a targeted way, which
results in the marketing effort to become very cost ef ficient and effective.
C onsumer s decid ing to make use of the authentication capability supported by NDC will
be able to receive offers customize d to their respective needs

. This will generate a win

win situation for both the airline and the consumer.The a dditional product information provided as part of the NDC standard will also enable

travel agents to much better advice and serv e potential passenge rs. As a global airline Qatar Airways relies heavily on the distribution via GDS. Since the resolution stipulates a publically available communication standard available to all distribution providers we see NDC as a great opportunity that the GDS will significantly enhance their capabilities as well. This will allow Qatar Airways to dis tribute our product
features also via these channels without being impacted by their limited functionality

. Modern communication standards will allow making use of new and more efficient technology, which will reduce distribution cost. Lower cost will inev itably be passed on to the consumer and thus result in lower prices. The XML protocol is commonly used when exchanging information across the internet. An open standard based on the XML protocol will make the airline product easily
available to new distrib ution providers. The current communication protocols used in airline distribution makes it very difficult for new entrants to successfully establish a
distribution channel . This results in a limited number of providers with a negative impact
on cost and in novation

. The current distribution environment is based on technology developed decades ago

. Over that period it forced airlines to implement increasingly complex process es to make their product available in the market. The processes for distributing schedule, fares and
available seats are to a large extent independent using different format, timing and distribution providers. The cost of maintaining all the various methods and at the same
time achieve sufficient consiste ncy became not only a financial burden to the airlines,
but also limits the options for innovation benefiting the consumer

.
Considering the above impact on the travel industry we at Qatar Airways are convinced that NDC is the long

- awaited step in the right direction. It will provide the basis for an interactive and personalize shopping experience as it is already the norm in many other industries. It will result
in innovati on by the airlines and the distribution system providers and will enable the consumer to compare different airline products in order to make the right choice.

Qatar Airways strong ly believe s that the NDC communication standard will increase competition
and is therefore beneficial to the consumer. As a premium airline w e very much interested in being able to communicate our value proposition to our customers . We w ould therefore highly appreciate if DOT consider s our argumentation above and approves the Resolution 787 (New Distribution Capability)

.

Respectfully

Dieter Westermann
Senior Vice President Qatar Airways Doha, State of Qatar
+974 4430 2630